Andrew Mackay - Infinity Claws

Jelly meowed at her from inside the case. Bonnie’s demeanor changed the moment she clapped eyes on the animal.

“Can I hold her?” she asked.

“Sure.”

Bonnie opened the cage. Jelly relished the opportunity to jump out into her hands. She nestled quite comfortably in her arms and sniffed around her chest. “Cute cat. What’s her name?”

“Jelly,” Jamie said. “I’m her human .”

“Cool.”

Jelly’s purring was so loud that it could be heard from the other end of the room.

“I’m Dr. Bonnie Whitaker,” she smiled. “Opera Beta’s physicist.”

“Why were you punching that plastic thing?” Jamie asked, to the amusement of Tripp and Bonnie.

“Oh, just getting some exercise. Do you know Jitsaku?”

“No? What is it?”

“It’s a fusion of Jijitsu and Kung Fu. You use your enemy’s power against them.” She looked for a reaction from Tripp. “We have to stay fit and exercise otherwise we’ll slow down. Shame we can’t do the same for our mental state, isn’t it?”

Tripp grinned at Jamie. “Bonnie, why don’t you show young Jamie, here, your special feature?”

“Sure.”

She passed Jelly to Jamie and unbuckled her inner-suit pants. Emily widened her eyes, expecting the worst.

“Actually, it’s better if you don’t—”

“—No, it’s not what you think.”

Bonnie stepped out of her pants. Metal bolts and wires adorned her right leg. She lifted her thigh and showed off the unusual amalgam of joints and connectors.

“Oh wow,” Jamie said in awe, “What happened to you?”

“I don’t remember, exactly. When I was a girl I got an infection. It started in my foot and spread to my joints, here.” She pointed at her hip.

Her left leg was perfectly fine, and perfectly formed. Jamie’s attention was drawn to what lay between them behind her underwear.

“Hey, kid. Look at my leg, not my crotch.”

“Sorry.”

“I think you may have a new admirer, Bonnie,’ Tripp joked and threw her a wink.

“Shut up.’ Bonnie lifted her right knee and wiggled it around. The mechanics whirred away under her fingertip. “Jamie, you see that?”

“Yes?”

She removed the lower half of her false leg. “I can take it off and replace it with various things. It’s made of titanium, a bit like the claws we’ll be putting on Jelly, here.”

“What?”

“Ah,” Tripp said, trying to hush his colleague. “Yes, we haven’t quite gotten around to discussing that just yet.”

“I’m sorry,” Emily butted in, full of confusion. “Did you say you’re going to be putting Titanium on Jelly?”

“Oh,” Bonnie reattached her leg and pulled up her pants. “Do they not know?”

“They do now ,” Tripp shook his head, angry at being put on the spot.

“What’s this about?” Emily took Jelly from Jamie’s arms and cradled her. “You’re not going to interfere with her, are you?”

“It’s a small procedure, but a necessary one,” Tripp explained. “When we’ve reached our destination, Wool will perform what’s known as a cuticle restructure .”

“What’s that?”

Bonnie buckled her belt and pressed a button on the wall. “Her claws will be removed and replaced with a set of titanium ones, along with a thumb attachment.”

Jelly looked at the humans in the room, understanding very little of the surgical proposition.

“What?” Emily grew nervous. “No, I don’t think so.”

“It’s a perfectly straightforward operation. Of course, it’ll be reversed when she returns to Earth.”

“No,” Emily turned around and made for the door. “Come on, Jamie. We’re leaving. I knew this was too good to be true.”

“I’m afraid you’ve already agreed to it,” Tripp said. “In the contract, the stipulation under enhanced modification.”

Emily had heard enough. “No, I’m afraid not. We’re going. Come on, Jamie.”

“But, mom—”

“—No buts.” Emily stormed out of the Fit Room, looking for the ship’s exit. “This is terriful , no way to treat a cat. They should be locked up.”

Jamie chased after his mother as she left the room, leaving Bonnie looking a little worse for wear.

“Sorry.”

“ Great ,” Tripp said, sarcastically. “Thanks for that, Bonnie. If it weren’t for your big mouth, they’d have never known.”

“I’m sorry,” Bonnie said. “I forgot.”

Tripp ran after the Andersons with his voice lowered. “Yeah, that’s your whole problem.”

“Excuse me,” Emily asked a technician in the hub corridor. “Where is the way out, please?”

He pointed at the far end of the walkway. “About a quarter of a mile down there, to section Z.”

“Thanks.”

She grabbed Jamie’s hand and sprinted down the corridor with Tripp in pursuit.

“Emily, listen—”

“—No, leave us alone. The whole thing is off.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Tripp pushed past the technician. “Please, stop. Let me set your mind at rest.”

Emily halted in her tracks, intending to make a point in full view of the technicians. “No. Let me set your mind at rest, okay?”

Tripp slowed down and nodded. “Okay?”

“There is no way on Earth I am going to allow you to interfere with or modify my cat.”

“It won’t happen on Earth , in fact,” Tripp said, hoping his clever joke might change her mind.

It didn’t. It had the very opposite effect.

“Are you taking me seriously?”

“Of course,” Tripp said. “It’s a procedure we must put in place. Please allow me to explain.”

“You’ve got thirty seconds.”

A crowd of technicians couldn’t help but listen in as they pretended to work.

“Jelly is the first cat on a manned mission to Saturn. She can’t defend herself or perform basic procedural commands as she is. The infinity claws are a basic insurance policy for us and for her.”

“What utter lessense—”

“—No, Emily, please. Stop talking and listen to me to me very carefully. We take Jelly’s safety and well-being extremely seriously. I know it sounds strange. Bizarre, even. The whole removal of her claws sounds painful. I can assure you it isn’t.”

“You guys are sick.”

Tripp sighed, nevertheless determined to make his point. “You saw what happened to Bisoubisou, yesterday? An allergic reaction?”

“Yes, it was terriful.”

“Exactly. The primary reason why we couldn’t take her on. Jelly responded well to the temporary set yesterday during the finals. There’s no danger. She’ll be absolutely fine.”

“Mom?” Jamie looked up at her. “She’ll be okay.”

Emily considered her position on the matter. The look in her little boy’s eye was reassuring – to a point. There was simply no way Jamie would agree to the whole venture if he thought Jelly would come to any harm.

Then again, he was only five-years-old.

Emily looked Tripp dead in the eyes, wanting her arm twisted once and for all.

“No pain?” she reaffirmed.

“No. None whatsoever. I can have Wool walk you through the procedure—”

“—And she returns to normal once she’s back, right?”

“That’s right.”

Emily huffed and took a final look at Jelly. In a strangely ironic twist she dug her claws into Emily’s arm, offering her approval.

“Welcome to the Control Deck,” Tripp said. “This is where we operate Alpha Beta. All the communications are conducted from this area, here.”

Tripp walked Jamie over to a huge bank of screens and buttons. An impressive sight for such young eyes. It resembled a video game console with ample opportunity for fun.